{{short description|Plot device used in science-fiction stories}} A '''group mind''', '''group ego''', '''hive mind,''' '''mind coalescence''', or '''gestalt intelligence''' in science fiction is a plot device in which multiple minds, or consciousnesses, are linked into a single collective consciousness or intelligence.<ref>[http://kajsotala.fi/Papers/CoalescingMinds.pdf "Coalescing minds: brain uploading-related group mind scenarios"] by Kaj Sotala, Department of Computer Science, University of Helsinki. January 2012.</ref><ref name="Prucher-G" />
==Overview== "Hive mind" tends to describe a group mind in which the linked individuals have no identity or free will and are possessed or mind-controlled as extensions of the hive mind.<ref name="Prucher-H2">{{Cite book |last=Prucher |first=Jeff |title=Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction |date=2009 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-538706-3 |location=Oxford |pages=88–89 |chapter=Hive Mind n. |oclc=319869032 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iYzi8m8FbEsC&pg=PA88}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=What is another word for "group mind"? |url=https://www.wordhippo.com/what-is/another-word-for/group_mind.html |access-date=2020-12-22 |website=Word Hippo |language=en}}</ref> It is frequently associated with the concept of an entity that spreads among individuals and suppresses or subsumes their consciousness in the process of integrating them into its own collective consciousness. The concept of the group or hive mind is an intelligent version of real-life superorganisms such as beehives or ant colonies.{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}
The first alien hive society was depicted in H. G. Wells's ''The First Men in the Moon'' (1901) while the use of human hive minds in literature goes back at least as far as David H. Keller's ''The Human Termites'' (published in Wonder Stories in 1929) and Olaf Stapledon's science-fiction novel ''Last and First Men'' (1930),<ref name="SFEncyclopedia">{{Cite encyclopedia|title=Hive Minds|first2=David|editor-last4=Sleight|editor-first3=Peter|editor-last3=Nicholls|editor-first2=David|editor-last2=Langford|editor-first=John|editor-last=Clute|last2=Langford|date=June 13, 2017|first1=Brian M|last1=Stableford|publisher=Gollancz|location=London|edition=3rd|url=http://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/hive_minds|encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction|editor-first4=Graham}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Group Ego by Robert Heinlein from Methuselah's Children|url=http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/content.asp?Bnum=727|access-date=2020-12-20|website=Technovelgy |first=Bill |last=Christensen}}</ref> which is the first known use of the term "group mind" in science fiction.<ref>{{Cite dictionary|title=group mind n.|url=https://sfdictionary.com/view/1044/group-mind|access-date=2025-02-08|dictionary=Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction|editor-first=Jesse|editor-last=Sheidlower|editor-link=Jesse Sheidlower}}</ref><ref name="Prucher-G">{{Cite book |last=Prucher |first=Jeff |title=Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction |date=2009 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-538706-3 |location=Oxford |pages=86 |chapter=Group Mind n. |oclc=319869032 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iYzi8m8FbEsC&pg=PA86}}</ref> The phrase "hive mind" in science fiction has been traced to Edmond Hamilton's novel ''The Face of the Deep'' (published in Captain Future in 1942) referring to the hive mind of bees as a simile,<ref>{{Cite dictionary|title=hive mind n.|url=https://sfdictionary.com/view/56/hive-mind|access-date=2025-02-08|dictionary=Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction|editor-first=Jesse|editor-last=Sheidlower}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/content.asp?Bnum=3247 |title=Hive Mind by Edmond Hamilton from The Face of the Deep |website=Technovelgy |access-date=2025-02-08 |first=Bill |last=Christensen}}</ref> then James H. Schmitz's ''Second Night of Summer'' (1950).<ref>{{Cite news|last=Zimmer|first=Ben|date=2015-12-29|title='Hive Mind,' From Beekeeping to Economics|language=en-US|work=Wall Street Journal|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/hive-mind-from-beekeeping-to-economics-1450810487|access-date=2020-12-20|issn=0099-9660}}</ref><ref name="Prucher-H">{{Cite book |last=Prucher |first=Jeff |title=Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction |date=2009 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-538706-3 |location=Oxford |pages=88–89 |chapter=Hive Mind n. |oclc=319869032 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iYzi8m8FbEsC&pg=PA88}}</ref> A group mind might be formed by any fictional plot device that facilitates brain to brain communication, such as telepathy.
Some hive minds feature members that are controlled by a centralised "hive brain," "hive queen," or "overmind," but others feature a decentralised approach in which members interact equally or roughly equally to come to decisions.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Sokol|first=Joshua|date=2019-05-14|title=Striking Down the Queen Won't Save You From the Swarm (Published 2019)|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/14/science/hives-queens-science-fiction.html|access-date=2020-12-03|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The packs of Tines in Vernor Vinge's ''A Fire Upon the Deep'' and ''The Children of the Sky'' are an example of such decentralized group minds.<ref>Vernor Vinge, ''The Children of the Sky'', Tor, 2011, p. 167</ref>
Hive minds are typically viewed in a negative light, especially in earlier works, but some newer works portray them as neutral or positive.<ref name="SFEncyclopedia" /><ref>{{cite thesis|last=Stableford|first=Brian M.|date=Jan 1, 1987|title=The Sociology of Science Fiction|type=PhD|publisher=University of York|url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/77022743.pdf|degree=PhD}}</ref>
As conceived in speculative fiction, hive minds often imply (almost) complete loss (or lack) of individuality, identity, and personhood. However, while the individual members of a group mind may not have such things, the group mind as a whole will have them, possibly even to a greater degree than individual people (just like a human has more personhood than a single neuron cell). The individuals forming the hive may specialize in different functions, similarly to social insects.{{Citation needed|date=March 2009}}
== Examples ==
{| class="wikitable" |+ In literature |- ! Year !! Source !! Summary |- | 1901 || ''The First Men in the Moon'' by H. G. Wells || Main characters of the novel go to the Moon and encounter society of Selenites that exhibit properties of a group mind |- | 1929 || ''The Human Termites'' by David H. Keller || A scientist discovers that termites are all parts of a bigger organism, all controlled by thousands years old central intelligences that plan to conquer the world. |- | 1951 || ''The Puppet Masters'' by Robert A. Heinlein || Slug-like parasitic aliens capable of controlling any organisms they attach themselves to spread among people as they adapt measures of exterminating them |- |- | 1953 || ''More Than Human'' by Theodore Sturgeon || A revision and expansion of his novella "Baby Is Three" (1952) following a group of young outcasts with supernatural abilities, acting as a single organism called ''Homo gestalt'', the next step in human evolution. |- | 1960 || ''Meeting of the Minds'' by Robert Sheckley || A scorpion-like alien named Quedak has a mission to unify diverse sentient beings into a single collective consciousness. |- |1982 |''Foundation's Edge'' by Isaac Asimov |While searching for Earth, Golan Trevize and Janov Pelorat find Gaia, an isolationist planet inhabited by a collective consciousness that encompasses all living and non-living things. |- |1985 |''Ender's Game'' by Orson Scott Card |Earth has been attacked by ant-like aliens called the Formics. This species consists of hive-minded colonies controlled by queens. |- |1987 |''The Tommyknockers'' by Stephen King |An alien spacecraft gradually transforms the residents of a small Maine town into advanced, but soulless, beings who use alien technology powered by a form of collective, mental or psychic energy. |}
{| class="wikitable" |+ In movies |- ! Year !! Source !! Summary |- | 1994 || ''The Puppet Masters'' || Movie adaptation of the novel ''The Puppet Masters'' |- | 2009 || ''Eyeborgs'' || The network of camera-robots ODIN is filming everything and attacking anyone they deem a threat to their surveillance state but then fabricate video-evidence of something totally different taking place to cover the trails |- |2013 |''Ender's Game'' |Movie adaptation of the novel Ender's Game |}
{| class="wikitable" |+ In television |- ! Year !! Source !! Summary |- | 1989 || ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' episode "Q Who" || Introduced a recurring antagonist of the series, the Borg, a hive-mind alien group |- |2009 |''Star Wars: The Clone Wars'' episode "Brain Invaders" |Geonosian brain worms take over a spaceship. The infected form a hivemind controlled by Queen Karina the Great. Several other hive-mind species have appeared in the Star Wars canon. |- | 2015 || ''Rick and Morty'' episode "Auto Erotic Assimilation" || Introduced a hivemind character Unity |- |2016 |''Stranger Things'' seasons 2–5 |Introduced a hive mind that connects together all "flayed" creatures and humans |- |2017 || ''The Orville'' || The plot of the series contains an artificial race called Kaylon, whose members all form a hive mind |- |2021 || ''Inside Job'' episode "Reagan & Mychelle's Hive School Reunion" || Based on Myc, a sentient mushroom-like being, going back to his "hive school" reunion, where students were part of a hive mind |- | 2025 || ''Pluribus'' || The plot of the series revolves around a hivemind that encompasses all people on Earth except for a few individuals |} {| class="wikitable" |+In Video Games !Year !Source !Summary |- |1998 |StarCraft |The Zerg are a race of insectoids aliens obsessed with assimilating other races into their swarm. They form a hive-mind superorganism. |- |2001 |Halo |The Flood is one of the primary antagonists of the Halo franchise. It is a parasitic alien that seeks to infect all sentient life.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Halo Graphic Novel|url=https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Halo_Graphic_Novel/Kb4bAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0&bsq=isbn:0785123725|publisher=Marvel|date=2006-08-09|isbn=978-0-7851-2372-9|language=en}}</ref> |- |2013 |The Last of Us - Cordyceps |The Cordyceps infection acts as a hive mind, with infected individuals linked through a massive underground, fungal mycelium network. |- |2017 |Stellaris - Utopia |This DLC allows players and AI empires to adopt the "Gestalt Consciousness" ethic, letting them play as a hive-mind. |- |2018 |Kenshi - The Hive |The Hive, also known as Hivers, are a race of stick-like humanoids who are meant to collaborate under a collective mind, ruled by a Hive Queen and her princes. |- |2023 |Baldur's Gate 3 |The Myconids, a species of conscious fungi located in the Underdark. They live in "circles": a collective consciousness that communicate through a song-like telepathy, speaking in visions and music.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Myconid - bg3.wiki|url=https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Myconid|website=Baldur's Gate 3 Wiki|date=2026-01-26|access-date=2026-02-01|language=en}}</ref> |}
==See also== {{Portal|Psychology|Science fiction}} {{div col|colwidth=20em}} *All Tomorrows#Summary * Borg * Brain–brain communication * Brain–computer interface * Collective intelligence * Crowd psychology * Deindividuation * Global brain * Groupthink * Herd mentality * Insectoids in science fiction and fantasy ** Zerg, insectoid alien race in the ''StarCraft'' franchise * "Legion", group of demons in Christian mythology and the New Testament * Parasites in fiction ** "Pod people", parasitoid alien race in the 1956 film ''Invasion of the Body Snatchers'' ** Xenomorph, parasitoid alien race in the ''Alien'' and ''Alien vs. Predator'' franchises * Sociobiology * Swarm intelligence * Telepathy * Wisdom of the crowd {{div col end}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== *''[https://books.google.com/books?id=uavL-si5kbIC&dq=%22group+mind%22+science+fiction&pg=PA43 Science Fiction and the Prediction of the Future: Essays on Foresight and Fallacy]'' by Wong King Yuen, McFarland (2011) *''[https://books.google.com/books?id=M_3kNDKhxIcC&dq=%22group+mind%22+science+fiction&pg=PA1177 The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works, and Wonders · Volume 3]'' by Gary Westfahl, Greenwood Press (2005) *''[https://books.google.com/books?id=g-MbAAAAMAAJ&q=group%20mind Philosophers Look at Science Fiction]'' by Nicholas D. Smith, Nelson-Hall (1982) *''[https://books.google.com/books?id=stg5DwAAQBAJ&dq=%22group+mind%22+science+fiction&pg=PA162 Science Fiction in Classic Rock: Musical Explorations of Space, Technology and the Imagination, 1967-1982]'' by Robert McParland, McFarland (2017) *''[https://archive.org/details/bravenewwordsoxf00pruc/page/86/mode/2up/search/group+mind?q=%22group+mind%22+science+fiction Brave New Words : The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction]'' by Jeff Brucher, Oxford University Press (2007)
==External links== {{Wiktionary|hivemind}} *Entries on [https://sfdictionary.com/view/1044/group-mind group mind] and [https://sfdictionary.com/view/56/hive-mind hive mind] at Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction *[http://www.beyondboundariesnicolelis.net/~beyond/wordpress/ Miguel Nicolelis' Brain-net]
{{Science fiction}}
Category:Fictional collective consciousnesses Category:Fictional superorganisms Category:Science fiction themes Category:Collective intelligence